My thoughts and experiences of writing life, tempered with writing-related advice and information.

Friday, 13 January 2012

13,000 Words in a Week aka Deadline Madness

The deadline for my first formal MA assignments was on Wednesday and I would say it sneaked up on me, but I was hyper-aware that it was approaching. Christmas was part of the problem - not that I need an excuse to procrastinate. Writing slid down the priority list as I made mince pies, stollen, fudge and my first-ever attempt at a gingerbread house:

I also had a hard time mental-illness-wise. I have Borderline Personality Disorder with depression and anxiety and Christmas tends to aggravate my symptoms. Suffice to say, a week and a half ago I was in a panic as I realised I had typed 1500 words of a 5000 word film treatment, 6000 word piece of experimental fiction and self-reflexive essays of 1500 and 2000 words.

I had a choice: panic or work hard to produce something to submit, however crap it was. I chose the former, for a day or two, and then got to work.

I should add that I had been researching and freewriting around my ideas for over a month before Christmas, so at least I knew what I had to do. The tricky part was actually doing it. I survived with the aid of energy drinks and working late at night. I discovered that I could get more done in 3 hours from 11pm to 2am than in 6 hours during the daytime. I also found that when the going gets tough, I can write 13,000 words in one week.

That was a revelation, and it made me think about how much more work I could do on my non-MA writing. I couldn't work at last week's pace or intensity on a regular basis as it would kill me, but I'm certainly capable of writing more than I do. I've decided that I should force myself to follow more deadlines, whether it's to enter a short story in a contest or just to complete X words a week. I'm still ambivalent about whether I can produce good work this way, but I guess I'll find out when I get my marks back!

About Me

I'm a writer of fiction and non-fiction with an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Exeter. I run www.scatterbrainguides.com and a mental health recovery blog, Resurfacing and Rewriting at www.hayleynjones.com
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